Mitarai Historic Port Town and Traditional Buildings District

Mitarai (御手洗) sits at the eastern tip of Osaki-Shimojima in Kure City, Hiroshima Prefecture, within Setonaikai National Park. Its compact harbour, layered stone piers and rows of narrow-fronted merchant houses reflect a concentrated Edo-period port townscape; in 1994 (selected 4 July) the district was designated an Important Preservation District for a Group of Traditional Buildings (the 38th selection nationally), covering 6.9 hectares.

Arrival and the harbour

Approaching Mitarai you meet the working shoreline first: Edo-period piers, stone breakwaters and stepped boat landings remain along the water. The large early-19th-century breakwater built by Hiroshima Domain in 1829 survives largely intact; when constructed it measured 65 ken (about 120 m) in length with an extension of 50 ken (about 90 m) offshore. The harbour also retains low wooden ship‑lodgings (funayado) that were once the town’s waterfront warehouses and inns for visiting merchant ships rather than modern hotels.

The town grew directly landward from the port. Hiroshima Prefectural Route 355 circles the harbor and the machiya-style townhouses run back from that road into narrow lanes.

Streets and architecture

Mitarai’s buildings are dominated by gabled merchant houses with tile roofs and plaster finishes. After a major fire in 1759, plaster and namako-style walls became common as a fire-prevention measure; many houses therefore show a mix of Edo-era construction with Meiji-period modern additions. Residential and merchant lots were long and deep because frontage width was a basis for taxation, producing the town’s characteristic narrow street faces with deep interiors.

Along the shore the low, single‑storey boat inns and former warehouses present the pre-modern relationship between town and sea: these structures, the wave-protection works and the ganged stepped landings together preserve the appearance of a working port from before steam navigation.

Key historic sites

• Ebisu Shrine: the main hall and worship hall are designated Prefectural Important Cultural Properties. The shrine is believed to have been established when the port opened in 1666; the present buildings date to 1723.

• Sumiyoshi Shrine: the main hall, enclosing fence and gate are Prefectural Important Cultural Properties. The shrine was established in 1828 (Bunsei 11) through a local donation and is noted as a full example of Sumiyoshi-style shrine architecture, now rare nationwide.

• Former Wakagoshii teahouse site: a Prefectural Historic Site. Wakagoshii was one of four licensed teahouses that formed a historical entertainment quarter; in its heyday it reportedly had as many as 100 courtesans. The building later served other uses and now functions as a small local museum and community space.

• Seven Lords’ Retreat site: a Prefectural Historic Site connected to the lodging of five imperial retainers during the Seven Lords’ Retreat.

• Ship‑lodgings (“three longhouses”): a municipally designated tangible cultural property from the Bunsei years, now used for a café, a small gallery and a miniature traditional-boat workshop.

• Former Shibaya Residence (Mitarai Townscape Preservation Centre): a city tangible cultural property. Surveyor Inō Tadataka stayed here during his mapping work; a reproduction of his measuring map for Mitarai is displayed at the centre.

• Former Kaneko House: a municipal property whose site is associated with the late-Edo political agreement often called the Mitarai Agreement of 1867.

• Manshu-ji: the temple site retains a stone wall that local tradition attributes to the forces of Kato Kiyomasa from the 1585 inland campaign.

• Tenmangū and Oiran Park: Tenmangū contains the well from which the district name derives; Oiran Park displays about 100 gravestones relocated from a hillside—these graves are thought to be connected to the town’s historic teahouses and are rare evidence of burial practice for such workers in the Edo period.

Also present are a 1937 Showa-era movie theatre building restored in 2002 and several houses where local merchants or officials once lived; many of these properties carry municipal or prefectural cultural designations.

History and decline

Mitarai’s role as a harbour grew in the Edo period. Before the town’s formation the site served as a convenient wind- and tide‑waiting anchorage for coastal vessels. In 1666 Hiroshima Domain approved a town layout as local villagers’ sales of vegetables and fresh water to visiting ships grew into a settled port economy. The westward coastal route established in 1672 brought more long‑distance coastal traffic and the port became a rice-trading point the domain authorized along with Miyajima and Onomichi; by 1819 the town’s records described it confidently as a major regional port.

Prosperity generated wealthy merchants, cultural exchange and literary activity in the 18th and 19th centuries, plus an entertainment quarter formed around several licensed teahouses. Prominent visitors recorded in contemporary sources include surveyor Inō Tadataka (1806), Philipp Franz von Siebold (1826), and Yoshida Shōin (1853); in the upheavals of the 1860s the town served as a base for political and maritime activity and hosted notable stayovers.

With the arrival of steam and the spread of railways in the Meiji period, wind‑ and tide‑waiting ports lost their strategic commercial role. Mitarai’s decline from the late 19th century left its street pattern and buildings largely intact, a factor that later supported its preservation designation.

Culture, festivals and film

The town retains a living festival calendar: the Mitarai yagura festival is held on a Friday–Saturday in late July and celebrates the three local shrines (Ebisu, Tenmangū and Sumiyoshi). Historically the port’s teahouses and cultural patrons supported haikai circles and theatrical events; the town’s literary associations included local and visiting scholars of the Edo and early-Meiji eras.

Mitarai also appears in modern media. The district appears in a number of films and television works and has served as a location: titles listed in local records include the 1976 novel-based work “Dai chi no komoriuta” (the film itself was not shot there), the 1981 Tora-san film, the 2003 film “Hi no Sakana”, the 2006 work that used a local clinic as a location, and more recent appearances including animations and music videos. The 2012 animated film “Momo e no Tegami” models its island setting on Osaki-Shimojima and uses many Mitarai locations; the district also appears in other contemporary film and video productions.

Getting there

• Bus: the Tobishima Liner serves the area; disembark at the Mitarai Port bus stop. The services from Hiroshima city and Kure city are listed under the Sanyo Bus group; services from Chugoku Rosai Hospital are under Setouchi Sankō.

• Boat: Shimanami Kisen operates a high-speed boat from Takehara Port to Ohnaga Port on Osaki-Shimojima; from Ohnaga Port it is about a 15-minute walk to Mitarai.

• Car: from the Kure Interchange on the Hiroshima–Kure Road take the Akinada-Ohashi toll route; the drive is listed as about 1 hour 10 minutes.

Preservation and recent history

A record storm surge during Typhoon No. 19 in 1991 prompted local residents to begin organized townscape preservation. Their work led to the 1994 designation as an Important Preservation District; residents formed a preservation association the same year to coordinate conservation. Records note that preservation activities were ongoing through 2015.

FAQ

What is Mitarai's official preservation status?

It was designated on 4 July 1994 as an Important Preservation District for a Group of Traditional Buildings.

How large is the designated district?

The preserved district covers 6.9 hectares.

What notable Edo-period harbour structure survives at the port?

A breakwater built by Hiroshima Domain in 1829 measuring 65 ken (about 120 m) with an offshore extension of 50 ken (about 90 m) survives largely as built.

How can I reach Mitarai by boat and how far is the walk from that landing?

Shimanami Kisen runs a high-speed boat from Takehara Port to Ohnaga Port; from Ohnaga Port it is about a 15-minute walk to Mitarai.